Relevant Daniel

This coming Sunday we will begin a new series for the next four weeks on the book of Daniel.  The thing that makes this book interesting to me and I think exceptionally relevant to modern Christians is that Daniel is "exilic" literature.  Meaning it was written during the time of the Israelites exile into Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem.   Daniel and many others were forcefully relocated to a foreign land and were taught a new way of life and forced to adopt a different standard of values and livelihood.   It is an account of God's people struggling with their biblical faith in a place that was antagonistic to that faith.  It is in many ways a parallel to 21st century America.

Last week I had a conversation with one of our college students who told me the story of a professor at OU who opened class a few weeks ago with this question, "Are any of you in this classroom Christians?"

She was the only one who raised her hand.

He then looked at her and made a sarcastic remark about the narrowness of Christianity and told her she would certainly be insulted by what she saw and heard in his class.  Besides thinking what a jerk this guy was, I couldn't help but think of the irony of a professor demonstrating subtle if not coercive bigotry and narrowness to one singled out student while accosting her for having a "narrow" religion.

I know this is nothing new.  A university professor bashing Christianity and Christian conservatives is as common in our society as Oklahoma wind.  What surprised me and also amazed her was that she was the only one who raised her hand.   Do you think her account of her first day of class at OU was an anomaly?   I don't think so.  My sense is that this kind of pressure on traditional Christianity is increasing.

In a recent article in Christianity Today, Drew Dyck made the following observations about twenty somethings who are walking away from their faith:

Recent studies have brought the trend to light. Among the findings released in 2009 from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), one stood out. The percentage of Americans claiming "no religion" almost doubled in about two decades, climbing from 8.1 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008. The trend wasn't confined to one region. Those marking "no religion," called the "Nones," made up the only group to have grown in every state, from the secular Northeast to the conservative Bible Belt. The Nones were most numerous among the young: a whopping 22 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds claimed no religion, up from 11 percent in 1990. The study also found that 73 percent of Nones came from religious homes; 66 percent were described by the study as "de-converts." (The Leavers: Young Doubters Leave The Church, Christianity Today 11-19-2010)

This is what makes the book of Daniel as relevant to us today as it was to adherents of biblical faith in the fifth century B.C.   Although none of us will likely ever face anything like Babylonian religious cleansing, a culture that increasingly sees itself as post-Christian brings new challenges to the modern believer.   Here are some of the major themes I will hit on in the coming weeks:

1.  We need to get out of the salt shaker and into the world.  It is clear from scripture that as Christians we are to engage culture, not separate from it.  God instructed the Israelites to move into Babylon and to become a blessing to the city.  We are to redeem culture and influence it for the good- not isolate and insulate ourselves from it's influence.   Jesus said we are to be "salt and light".  Salt is a preservative and light penetrates darkness.   He prayed that His disicples would be "in the world but not of the world".  That's the principle we live by as Christians.

2.   It is important to know our faith.   When your worldview is being constantly challenged, it is extremely important to know not just WHAT you believe, but WHY you believe it.  If you only know what you believe but not why you believe it, then when your faith is challenged you will tend to feel frustrated and overwhelmed by doubt.  The Bible says we are to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope you have, but do so with gentleness and respect."  (1 Peter 3:15).  The only way to do this is to eagerly learn and get equipped.  It's a theme we hit on constantly, it is extremely important in a world that is increasingly skeptical of biblical faith that we have a strong epistemology.

3.  Remember God has a reason even for our exile.  Never forget that God is in control.  It is apparant from the exilic literature that it was Gods' design that the people of Israel go into exile.  This can only mean that God saw an eternal purpose in their faith being severely challenged in this way.  I think there is a lot to learn from this truth.  There have been many times in my life that my faith has been challenged and I felt somewhat overwhelmed by questioning and skepticism.  But I wouldn't trade any of it for what I have learned through the process of questioning.  Good questions have always caused me to dig deeper for answers.

I remember at one season of my life I had a long conversation with my father about the struggle I was having with people who were challenging my perspective of truth.  He said to me, "Never forget Rick that all truth is God's truth.  When the dust settles on all your questioning, the truth will stand on it's own."

Those words were so helpful to me as a college student.   God knows what He's doing.   We should never forget that God has a purpose for all of our struggle.  Even when it looks as if we are facing overwhelming odds, God plus one always equals a huge majority and His truth prevails through all of life's fiery furnaces and lions dens.